Snow White (Webb, 2025)

In Hollywood vs. America, Michael Medved’s at-times contemptuous description of the industry he covers and the colleagues he covers it with, he shares an anecdote about a critic (who he declines to name) that scoffs at a screening of The Last Temptation of Christ and then gives it a glowing review because he or she does not want to be associated with the outside voices that were critical of the movie for social/political reasons.

Decades later, Rebecca Cusey responded to another colleague claiming that evangelical press reviewers were giving high marks to Noah solely because they had been bribed by the studio with junkets, swag, and access to stars with the LOL-inducing headline that she had sold her soul to marketers for a stale bagel.

So it is not exactly a hot take or a new take to suggest that early “buzz” surrounding a film may be based on something other than neutral aesthetic and artistic judgments. In the months leading up to Snow White, my YouTube feed was bombarded with video after video about how the film was a disaster, to the point that there were stories about the stories. (One features negative comments about the film’s trailer put to music and sung.) Occasionally one of these might drop a dog-whistle term (“woke” is the adjective du jour) to let readers who didn’t really care about the movie know which side they of the culture war was lobbing grenades in case they wanted to join the attack. The movie must suck because…Rachel Zegler is pro-Palestine! The movie must stink because Zegler suggested that the original story might need to be updated to make the Princess less passive. Very rarely are such takes presented in a neutral tone that lets one consider whether they are logical arguments or ad hominem attacks. They are presented with a feigned outrage…how DARE she claim the old story isn’t perfect?!!? Shut up and Sing!!!! The movie must be bad because I WANT it to fail so that I can then experience cackling glee at the downfall of someone whose opinions or ideas are so offensive to me I can’t stand the idea that anything they say or do could be anything other than risible.

I showed up at the advanced screening ready to bury the film because the sheer number of the outraged takedowns and the volume of the vitriol suggested there must be something there that critics were gleefully exploiting, otherwise … why spend that much time and effort to derail a film before one has even seen it?

It didn’t take that long, maybe fifteen minutes or so, before I realized that the music was an improvement, the characterization was an improvement, and that the film was more interested in updating its predecessor rather than deconstructing it. And…I kind of dug it.

Truth is, the original Snow White is a little vapid with her squeaky voice and complete lack of agency. The classic film is a triumph of form and artistry, and the update is savvy enough to pay homage to iconic parts of it — the shadows of the dwarves preceding their initial entrance; “Heigh Ho” and “Whistle While You Work”; the art design of the magic mirror, and the tragic jealousy of the antagonist. But we also get a love duet so that love’s first kiss isn’t just from some random guy. The anachronistic haircut is given a nice plot explanation. There’s a nice, understated nod to the dated-ness of the costume with its transformation mirroring the heroine’s.

Mostly though, there is some genuine character development. Snow White is challenged by her father to be brave and true and kind and virtuous. And virtue means something more than being virginal. The film exploits the multiple connotations of “fair” in a winsome way that suggests that — gasp — maybe there is sometimes a connection between inner beauty and outward fairness.

There will be, I suppose some people who accuse the film of being “feminist” and will misunderstand that term to mean that women are superior to men rather than equal. The thing is, though, the film doesn’t villify men. They, like women, are a conflicted bunch, and to lead Snow White must learn how to earn their loyalty and respect. Also, Snow White’s father — the source of most of her values — is a man. The film doesn’t fall into the lazy pattern of vilifying all men as the only way of questioning patriarchy.

There are some flaws. Zegler is a better singer than actress, so at times her facial expressions feel a little too self-aware. Gal Gadot’s big production number doesn’t really work, not because she lacks talent but because it is thematically at odds with the rest of the film. That being said, the climactic confrontation between queen and princess is culturally brave, insisting that there is a power in kindness, compassion, and principle that is capable of withstanding purely self-motivated power.

I have not seen all of the live-action Disney remakes because I subscribe to the axiom that you don’t remake good movies, you rewatch them. You remake flawed movies to improve them. It is hard for me to claim that this is an improvement over its predecessor because the animation in the original was just so groundbreaking, but it improves on parts of it, and in doing so justifies its existence in a way that some of these live-action remakes don’t.